Tandoori chicken

Popular across North India and well beyond tandoori chicken is named for the cylindrical clay oven (tandoor) in which the bird is cooked. The generally accepted origin story attributes its invention to a Hindu Punjabi Kundan Lal Gujral who fled Pakistan following the 1947 partition and opened a stillexisting restaurant in Delhi Moti Mahal (see below) only to soon invent both tandoori and butter chicken. Of course its hard to say for sure where the recipe might have come from but its pretty safe to call this a typical Delhi food. The chicken is marinated in curd thoroughly spiced to achieve its trademark scarlet hue and cooked at a high temperature in the tandoor. Most often the meats served in pieces on the bone. If it seems kind of boring because of its familiarity to many of us in the West dont be fooled: When its good and properly spicy its blowyourmind delicious.